Warhammer 40K: Tyranid Combat Patrol Point Breakdown and Next Steps
It’s time for the Tyranids to get another look at their Combat Patrol Box. You’re going to want to grab two and your codex. Let’s do this.
When Games Workshop released all the points as a free update we got to thinking — how do the previous Combat Patrols stack-up? In this series we’re going to revisit the older Combat Patrols, breakdown their points, and talk about where to build from that box. For previous breakdowns check the bottom of this article.
Today it’s time for the Great Devourer to get their just desserts. It’s time we unpacked the Tyranid Combat Patrol and see how it stacks up and where to go from their. Grab your fork and knife, it’s time to dig in.
Tyranid Combat Patrol Point Breakdown
1x Hive Tyrant = 180 points + wargear
3x Tyranid Warriors = 90 points + wargear
36x Termagants = 252 points + wargear
3x Ripper Swarms = 45 points + wargear
Points Total: 567 + Wargear
As a Tyranid player I have to start off by saying this box is a fantastic core for any Tyranid Army. You can build pretty much anything else you want and still use this as a core to “check all the boxes” that you’d need to have a functioning army. It’s not hyper-specialized but every single model in this kit is going to be useful. Some more than others if you really want to go hard in a particular direction.
For example, 36 Termagants is perfect as a big block of board control/objective campers. The Tyranid Warriors are Synapse and can even help corral the little guys. The Rippers are cheap and disposable and perfect as a speed bump/annoying unit for your enemy to deal with. And the Hive Tyrant has so many options you can go nuts. You can even upsize him into a Winged-Hive Tyrant (aka a Flyrant) or go for the gold and make him a Swarmlord who’s one badass character. Point is you’ve got options and this box is totally worth picking up two (or even three if you really want to round things out).
We’re not going to go quite that hardcore yet. We are going to start with two boxes however. And we’re going to go ahead and make some swaps, too. I don’t normally say to do this either, but I’m actually going to spend some of that wargear budget upfront. I like Devourer Termagants, so the 36 we’re getting in the next box? Yeah, they are getting an upgrade. Oh and I wasn’t kidding about the Swarmlord. He’s in, too.
1x The Swarmlord = 240
3x Tyranid Warriors = 90 points + wargear
36x Termagants w/Devourers = 288
3x Ripper Swarms = 45 points + wargear
So much dakka…it’s kind of gross.
While that’s a bit more than double the points from the core so we’re now up to a total of 663 + 567 + wargear. That’s already at 1230 points! That escalated quickly. But on the plus side we’re sitting on a venerable carpet of little bugs, a couple of tough Tyranid Warriors, two packs of Rippers, a Hive Tyrant, AND The Swarmlord. Everything else from here is where we need to make some hard choices.
If you’re chasing the meta, you might be thinking about the Crusher Stampede. And yeah, you could totally go that route if you wanted to. Unfortunately, that does require you to get a Malanthrope and we’re building this out assuming you’re not going to order from Forge World. Not to be confused with the other brain-bug the Maleceptor:
That’s actually not a bad option to add either. I’ve got soft spot for it and also the Zoanthropes. So let’s add one and a pack of Zoanthropes, too. The Maleceptor is 220 points and 3 Zoanthropes are 150 points.
That brings us up to 1600 points + wargear. These units provide us some potent psyker offensive options. But I think we need something that’s more of a deep threat. How deep? I’m thinking under-the-ground deep. Time to call in a Trygon.
For 145 points + wargear you get a real ambush predator. This thing will certainly disrupt your enemy’s back line by drawing fire and (hopefully) taking a few things out before it dies. We’re now at 1745 + wargear. I think there’s really one more thing to bring in: Hive Guard with Impaler Cannons. those clock in at 60 points each so for 3, that’s 180. And yes, we’re spending more of that wargear budget but you want those Impaler Cannons. Trust me.
I think we’re a stopping point due to the points budget but I have more thoughts. We’re now at a total of 1925 + wargear. So let’s check out that list rundown.
The List
The Swarmlord
Hive Tyrant
3x Tyranid Warriors
3x Tyranid Warriors
36x Termagants w/Devourers (two units of 18)
36x Termagants (two units of 18)
Trygon
3x Ripper Swarms
3x Ripper Swarms
Maleceptor
3x Zoanthrope
Hive Guard w/Impaler Cannons
Points Total: 1925 + wargear
I’ll be honest, I’m not 100% happy with this list. Why? Because I can’t fit in ALL the toys I want! There’s no Carnifexes, no Exocrines, no Tervigon, no Parasite of Mortrex…you get the idea. Could we shave some corners and add those things? Absolutely. That’s kind of my point. We could swap The Swarmlord out for a regular Hive Tyrant (or one with wings) and use those points elsewhere. We could even cut down on the number of Termagants as 72 isn’t even an real number for units (the unit size is 10-30 so…you have to split them up). Again, you get the idea.
Welcome to the Tyranids! This is part of the issue with list building for them. They have a lot of really fun and thematic options that you might not get to run all of them in a single list. If you’re a new player this can honestly be overwhelming. But, again, the Combat Patrol is something you can build from as you add models to your collection. And you’re always going to have too many ‘gaunts. That’s just how it works. There are so many ways you can diverge from this Combat Patrol…but we have to stop somewhere.
(Editor’s Note: As mentioned in the comments you would, indeed, need to put the two Hive Tyrants into two seperate detachments. Thankfully, the list has enough options you can really break up the units pretty much however you need to so that they will fit in two detachments.)
For more tips and tricks check out our How to Play Tyranids in 9th Edition article
Previous Combat Patrol Point Breakdowns And Next Steps
